The loss of a child is probably the most painful experience any parent can endure.
July is International Bereaved Parents Awareness Month and during this time the Little Fighters Cancer Trust would like to remember and reach out to all those parents who have lost their children to Cancer.
The loss of a child is the most inconsolable of losses; It violates the natural order of things. Here at LFCT we unfortunately see too many parents face this devastating loss, and it breaks our hearts every time we do, but even we cannot really say that we know what they are feeling.
International Bereaved Parents Awareness Month is a time to reach out to bereaved parents and their families by giving them someone who will listen to them without trying to give them advice as to how to feel or act; someone to just “be there” for them, to give them a shoulder to cry on or a hug if they need it, or to just let them talk…
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, it is really difficult and heartbreaking for the parents; it is even more difficult and heartbreaking to watch a child fight this awful disease, to watch them endure intense pain, to see them struggle to breathe, to see how frightened they are of the various tests and treatments, and to feel absolutely helpless…
But to watch your child die and to know that you will no longer hear their laughter, see the twinkle in their eye, play catch with them… THAT is the most excruciating pain that any human can experience.
Grief is a normal and natural reaction to the death of a loved one, but when it is your child’s death that you are grieving, the reaction can be more intense and devastating. It doesn’t matter what age your child is; parents are supposed to go before their children, not the other way around.
A parent’s grief at losing their child is like no other grief, and no two parents grieve the same…
Grief is extremely powerful. It can catch you totally unprepared, knock you off balance and shake you to the core. It can be painful beyond words — physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually — and it can change your life completely. Grief serves to remind you how fragile life is and how vulnerable you are to loss. It can make your present life seem meaningless, and take away your hope for the future.
The worst kind of grief is the grief you’re experiencing now. Don’t compare your grief with anyone else’s, and know that, at this moment, your loss is the worst thing that could happen to anyone. Acknowledge that your loss is worthy of grief, and accept that you must endure the very real feelings of sorrow.
While we cannot say that we know how much it hurts, we would just like to let you know that we are sending out loads of Love, Light & Healing Thoughts to help you through the dark times.
“Speak to us of Children”
Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
~ Kahlil Gibran ~
THE PROPHET
